posted at 12:41 pm on July 18, 2014 by Noah Rothman

On Friday afternoon, President Barack Obama addressed the nation in regards to the nature of the deadly attack on a Malaysian passenger plane which resulted in the deaths of nearly 300 people, what the United States knows so far, and what steps the U.S. and its allies are prepared take to address this escalation of hostilities.

Obama revealed that one American dual citizen was killed that attack by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine. He noted that the United States has confirmed that a surface-to-air missile was fired from rebel-held areas of Ukraine at the plane, resulting in the crash. “Moreover,” Obama added, “we know that these separatists have received a steady flow of support from Russia.” Much of which, he said, included financial and logistical support, as well as the transfer of sophisticated weaponry.

The president added, however, that many details of that attack were not yet known and that it was important not to rush to judgment. He stopped short of saying what steps the United States would take in order to address this escalation of tensions.

The president added that a thorough and impartial investigation into this incident was important, and that the evidence at the crash site must not be tampered with (something which may have already happened). That may prove difficult given the fact that pro-Russian separatists responsible for this attack, who the president claimed are provided with material support from Russia, were reportedly shooting at European investigators as Obama spoke.

BREAKING: Shots fired by rebels at international team of investigators (OSCE) in Ukraine as they approach plane wreckage, via @KiritRadia

The president opened his speech forcefully, but quickly reverted to lawyerly caveats in order to avoid presenting for the world an indictment of Russia over their clear culpability in this gross violation of human rights. The behavior of the separatists thus far suggests that Moscow does not take the president seriously.

Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe were not able to secure an access corridor on Friday to the site where a Malaysian airliner crashed in eastern Ukraine, the OSCE’s chairman said.

“They did not have the kind of access that they expected. They did not have the freedom of movement that they need to do their job. The crash site is not sealed off,” Thomas Greminger told Reuters by telephone.

The president opened his speech forcefully, but quickly reverted to lawyerly caveats in order to avoid presenting for the world an indictment of Russia over their clear culpability in this gross violation of human rights.

The behavior of the separatists thus far suggests that Moscow does not take the president seriously.

The looting of the crash sight is ridiculous. Wallets and purses opened up, cash missing. Valuables being pulled out of luggage, backpacks, carryons. All while leaving the bodies uncovered, in the rain.

The looting of the crash sight is ridiculous. Wallets and purses opened up, cash missing. Valuables being pulled out of luggage, backpacks, carryons. All while leaving the bodies uncovered, in the rain.

Why did the pilot of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 divert from his usual flight plan, why did he fly above restricted airspace, and just what, if any instructions, did Kiev air control give the pilot in the minutes before the tragic explosion?”

Why did Ukraine’s SBU security service confiscate recordings of conversations between Ukrainian air traffic control officers and the crew of the doomed airliner rather than releasing them to the public?

Was the path of MH17 materially different than the last ten times this flight flew over this area? If so, why?

The president opened his speech forcefully, but quickly reverted to lawyerly caveats in order to avoid presenting for the world an indictment of Russia over their clear culpability in this gross violation of human rights.

The internal contradictions in the stories being put out by the Russians and their separatist buddies is interesting. The Russians say that the fault for the crash is Ukraine’s because each state has the obligation to maintain the safety of its own skies. Fine (though Russia, through its surrogates is keeping the Ukraine from doing just that). But, when the separatists did not know that it was a passenger plane they had shot down and thought it was a military transport they were crowing “We did warn you-do not fly in our sky”. (emphasis added)

Sufficient evidence exists to justify a strong military response and remove many separatists from their mortal coils, but that would crimp King Putt’s busy afternoon planning his vacation and fundraising.

The president opened his speech forcefully, but quickly reverted to lawyerly caveats in order to avoid presenting for the world an indictment of Russia over their clear culpability in this gross violation of human rights. The behavior of the separatists thus far suggests that Moscow does not take the president seriously.

But, when the separatists did not know that it was a passenger plane they had shot down and thought it was a military transport they were crowing “We did warn you-do not fly in our sky”. (emphasis added)

Ukraine, Russia political crisis
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Wall Street Journal correspondent Paul Sonne says shots were fired in the air while an OSCE team was at the Malaysia Airlines crash site in eastern Ukraine. He reports that the team was not being given full access. – Stephanie
see original on twitter.com
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Obama says “not to rush to judgement but wait till the investigation is done”. How long will that take? Every crisis he says the same thing and than the story dies. All he does is sweeps his problems under the rug and the media will help hide it too. Anyone know when the next fundraising event is?

15:29: Ukraine’s SBU security service has confiscated recordings of conversations between Ukrainian air traffic control officers and the crew of the doomed airliner, a source in Kiev has told Interfax news agency.

And the carrion eating Russian Separatists are picking through the corpses, emptying wallets, purses, and removing rings from fingers and necklaces and bracelets from necks and arms. Then they caste lots for the clothing…

Ahhhhh..the spoils of war, and Barack Obama has just given them a pass.

The AN-26 was shot down on Monday, July 14. The post cited in the translated article went up on July 17 at about 4:50 PM, about 30 minutes after the 777 was shot down. In that post, Girkin says “In the area Torrez just downed plane An-26″.

His use of the word “just” suggests he was referring to the July 17 event.

Forbes has a recording further showing these separatist guys talking to each other about shooting down a plane and later finding out that it was civilian. They make up reasons to be suspicious of it.

“In the Torez region, they have destroyed an AN-26 transport plane. Its wreckage landed near the ‘Progress’ mine. This will teach them: Do not fly in ‘our skies.’ And here is the video confirming the ‘crash of the bird.’ The bird fell on open fields. It did not damage inhabited sectors. Peaceful people did not suffer. And there is information about a second destroyed plane; looks like an SU.”

A big reason is because there are very few surface-to-air systems that can hit something at 33,000 feet. And only one is in the region. And every side in this conflist has one or more.

A Ukrainian minister was the first one out with the info. But it was quickly followed by other sources (I know – bandwagon effect and such is possible).

As to the date – yes. What’s your point? The three aircraft were on three different days. There is traffic from different days that is attributed to the “separatists” related to each incident, it appears.

I’m willing to wait for facts before nailing a bad guy in this, but there’s no need to go back and muddy things that seem to have already been clarified.